Author: David Pike

Grant Shapps named as new UK defence secretary after Ben Wallace steps down Grant Shapps has been announced as the new defence secretary, taking over from Ben Wallace. It’s Shapps’ fifth cabinet job in less than a year. Wallace is standing down as an MP at the next election after four years as defence secretary. In a statement, Mr Shapps said he was “honoured” to take on the role. He paid tribute to the “enormous contribution…

Police officers to face quicker sackings for gross misconduct in England and Wales The government has announced that police officers guilty of gross misconduct in England and Wales will face automatic sackings. The change follows high-profile cases of police officers committing rape and murder, such as rapist and killer Wayne Couzens and serial rapist David Carrick. Under the new system, chief constables or their deputies will chair misconduct panels hearing serious allegations against officers. Until…

Families welcome plan to force offenders into dock after Lucy Letby case A new law that gives judges more powers to make criminals attend sentencing hearings has been received well by families of victims. Some of the most recent high-profile murder cases have seen the killers refuse to appear in the dock during the sentencing. The mother of Olivia Pratt-Korbel – a nine-year-old shot dead by Thomas Cashman, and the sister of murdered Sabina Nessa…

He feels ‘so much happier’ after the £25,000 procedure.

You may not agree, but the argument was highly entertaining.

Today’s news summary – Paper Talk Thursday’s front pages report on new laws to force offenders to appear in court for sentencing. ‘Spineless killers’  The Daily Mail says “At last” along with photos of killers who refused to attend their hearings – including Lucy Letby and Thomas Cashman. The paper says the legislation will “finally” see “cowardly” and “spineless criminals who refuse to hear their fate in court… dragged into the dock”. The Daily Express says…

The plume could hit the UK next week.

One boy said he felt ‘voiceless’.

The vacccine programme has been pushed back a month.

In Northern Ireland, the generation born after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement is known as the “peace babies”. Yet, 25 years after the end of the conflict between nationalists, who want a united Ireland, and unionists, who want to remain part of the United Kingdom, the trauma of The Troubles still weighs on the younger generation.

Confusion over ULEZ fines in first weeks of controversial expansion across London ITV says The chaotic first day of London mayor Sadiq Khan’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) scheme expansion saw furious protests outside No 10 and traffic cameras smashed or vandalised with spray paint. The Crown Prince of Kuwait had his trip to meet Rishi Sunak partially disrupted by opponents of the charge on motorists using high-polluting vehicles, who staged an angry demonstration outside Downing…

Rosamund Kissi-Debrah: Woman whose daughter died from air pollution welcomes ULEZ expansion Sky News says A woman whose daughter died because of air pollution says the expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone is vitally important because children with asthma are still dying from noxious fumes. Rosamund Kissi-Debrah told Sky News that “yes, (ULEZ) is painful, it’s costly”, but added: “Stunted lung growth will cost us on the NHS – that’s your taxes and my…

Tories accused of hypocrisy in Ulez row after call to extend congestion charge The Guardian says Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy in claiming Sadiq Khan expanded London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to raise revenue after it emerged the Department for Transport urged the mayor to extend the city’s congestion charge for the same reason. On the first day of Ulez covering every London borough there was renewed bickering between the Labour mayor and the…

We can avoid flight chaos in future, says air traffic boss Martin Rolfe, the head of National Air Traffic Services (Nats) has said the flight chaos caused by a computer glitch should not happen again. Speaking to the BBC, Rolfe said measures were in place to protect against the “incredibly rare” system failure which has left hundreds of fights cancelled. “If that happens again, we can resolve it very, very quickly,” he said. Thousands of…

Disengaging with China not credible, says James Cleverly James Cleverly has said it’s important for the country to continue engaging with Chinese officials, saying it would not be “credible” to disengage. The foreign secretary met with China’s vice president on the first trip to China made by a senior UK figure in five years. He said the trip would help avoid “mistrust and errors.” But ahead of his visit, some UK MPs attacked the government’s…

Today’s news summary – Paper Talk Wednesday’s front pages lead on a few stories including the second day of delays and cancellations in the UK following an air traffic control glitch. Many of the papers feature photos of Ulez protesters, as the London scheme was extended yesterday. Air traffic glitch The Daily Mail reports on no compensation being offered to “air chaos victims” as travellers enter their second day of cancellations and delays following the…

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Derek Draper was trapped for around an hour in a passport scanner specifically made for wheelchair users.

The former political advisor, 56, is married to Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway, also 56, and the pair share two children.

In 2020, Derek contracted Covid-19 and suffered serious complications, spending months in hospital and now, years later, still requiring full-time care.

Derek now uses a wheelchair and haas very little strength in his arms, and the complications has also affected his cognition and speech.

It meant that Derek used new disabled passport scanners – created specifically to allow wheelchair users to go through the self-scanners – he was locked in and trapped for an hour.

Kate explained the situation on Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain, where guest Martin Hibbert was speaking about his life in a wheelchair since being involved in the Manchester Arena bombing, having completed Kilimanjaro and taking campaigns to Westminster.

She noted that disability is a large spectrum, and said Derek ‘hasn’t got the cognition’ Martin has, leading to a nightmare situation at Heathrow.

Kate, who recently received an MBE, has been caring for Derek since he contracted a severe case of Covid-19 at the start of the pandemic (Picture: PA)

The couple were travelling back from the United States, where Derek had been for treatment, and the airport was celebrating its ‘achievement’ of getting in a new passport scanner for wheelchair users, as previously they would not have been wide enough to allow them in.

‘Heathrow was celebrating, they put in a new wheelchair-width … passport scanner.

Before then you couldn’t get a wheelchair through. They put one in at vast expense, but when it came to do it with Derek – disability has a wide range, he hasn’t got the cognition you’ve got or the strength you’ve got in your upper body – we realised we couldn’t get him into the country.

The couple have been married for 18 years, with Kate making two documentaries on her husband’s health struggles (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

‘He went forward, the door locked, but the disabled person has to free it and you’re not allowed, because of the border, to do it yourself. So he was stuck in no man’s land, literally between two borders, for an hour or so.

‘So even when conscious effort has been made to make things work, and I wonder if it’s because there aren’t enough disabled people talking about it.’

Kate regularly speaks on life as a carer for her husband and how he is progressing health-wise, and has released two documentaries on the subject: Finding Derek and Carng for Derek.

It was recently reported Kate had been hit with an eye-watering £716,000 tax bill after being forced to shut down her husband’s business when he was first hospitalised with the virus three years ago.

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV

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‘Something about your local area may encourage you to take action.’

Tens of thousands more airline passengers suffered flight cancellations on Tuesday.

Lisa admits she was so against the idea of the development at first, that she wrote to oppose it

Plan your transport now.

A man has been taken to hospital after several people fell ill following reports of a ‘funny smell’ at a bank in Nuneaton.

Police responded to reports of a ‘domestic incident’ at her home.

Stock up on your staples.

People stranded as UK flight disruption ‘set to last days’ Air travel disruption has hit the UK, causing travel chaos which is set to last for several days. Despite Monday’s technical issue with air traffic services being fixed within hours, aircraft and crew are now out of place. Transport Secretary Mark Harper has warned that the disruption will last for some time. “Lots of flights were cancelled and it is going to take some days…